Sunday, February 15, 2015

Love is Grand

I've already shared just a few photos from our Valentine's preparations last weekend, so now for the details and final routine-up of how we celebrated Love Day.

I like to do as much creative/hands-on activities with the boys as I can, which translated means, with as much energy and time will allow. Which, unfortunately, lately, hasn't been much. But with Brad gone and time to kill and wanting to keep the boys occupied and happy, I had planned on them working on their classroom valentines last Saturday. Because I knew it would require a little prep work on my part, I had found a few ideas on Pinterest that I hoped would catch the boys' attention. Drew is super into Minecraft, so I found these printables and he loved them. And I've been eyeing this crayon melting project for a really long time, so knowing that Reed is my crafty kiddo I hoped that he would love the idea. And he did! We found a printable valentine HERE that coordinated wonderfully with the crayons.

The greatest part about this whole project is how independent the boys have become. Drew was able to do all of his completely on his own, and aside from peeling the paper off some of the crayons and the use of the oven, Reed was able to do his, as well. So awesome.

That's the first time we've had such a project done with plenty of time to spare! Yay us!

We also baked up some Valentine's cookies while Brad was away. They were frosted and sprinkled and then gobbled up, faster than I could get an "after" picture. :)

On the 11th, our usual Wednesday night church programming was interrupted by a family celebration night. Three times throughout our program year, we celebrate families by hosting a special night at our church. This time, the focus was on love. Brad and his incredible team of special event volunteers put together a super fun night of celebration and togetherness and laughter and meaning. The highlight of the night was a live taping of "The Family Wed Game" with our host, Church Woolery.

Handsome fella, I know.

Four families were chosen to participate, and there was a lot of intense competition and so much laughter as we learned more about the dynamic duos that make up the Moms and Dads of each group.

I love our church.

The boys' classroom parties were on Thursday, the 12th (no school for these kiddos on Friday due to a teacher development day). Once again, the boys' parties were scattered and Brad's schedule was flexible so that I was able to help in both of the classrooms. Reed's class did a rotation of stations with five different crafts/activities, then watched a movie and had snacks. Drew's class had a craft, game, and yummy snacks, too.

Once we got home after school, valentines were opened, candy was sorted, and Reed even shared his valentines with Ruby. She got all the girly ones. :)

Our love celebrations here at home are usually pretty minimal. I typically have a handful of ideas I'd like to try, but the holiday sort of sneaks up on me, as it's so quickly after Drew's birthday. So I opted to keep it relaxed and keep myself pressure-free (pressure which is always self-imposed) and I cooked up a very special Valentine's dinner for Friday night. (Nope, not actually Valentine's Day, but meltdowns could commence if Saturday night pizza night was interrupted.)